Gender- and SES-Specific Disparities in Shadow Education: Compensation for Boys, Status Upgrade for Girls? Evidence From the German LifE Study
Gender- and SES-Specific Disparities in Shadow Education: Compensation for Boys, Status Upgrade for Girls? Evidence From the German LifE Study

Summary/Abstract: In the present article, we draw on social reproduction theories to explain the increase in the use of “shadow education” (SE) in Germany over the last two decades as a status-based, gender-specific investment strategy of families. Thus, we ask whether investing in private tutoring for both girls and boys alike serves to maintain or improve their status position, or whether gender-specific investment strategies exist. Our hypotheses are quantitatively tested by means of logistic regression using data of the 2012 German Life Courses into Early Adulthood (LifE) study. In contrast to prominent beliefs, our results show that SE in Germany does not function as a tool to promote social inequality. Instead, SE is used largely independent of social origin to achieve higher educational credentials. We found that particularly boys from non-academic but high-income families use SE, whereas girls seem unaffected by social origin entirely. Our findings call for further strengthening the gender dimension in existing inequality theories.

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